Maylily - Chapter 64

After quite some time, the Count of Everscourt came out of the storage room and told Victor, who had been waiting in front of it, that he intended to take Maylily and named a price for her.

“That amount makes things difficult. For a man said to be one of the richest in the empire, your generosity is rather disappointing.”

As Victor snorted, the count slipped his gloves back on and tilted his head slightly.

“I doubt anyone has offered you a higher amount than this.”

Foxy bastard. So he even looked into that.

Victor clicked his tongue shortly, displeasure written over his face. The count wasn’t wrong, but that didn’t mean the amount he had offered was in any way satisfying. He had no intention of meekly handing Maylily over to the enemy who had driven him to ruin just to get a bit more pocket change.

“You are no different from the rest of them. You toyed with my daughter and threw her away, and now you can’t forget her and came crawling here on your own feet. On top of that, you ought to pay your share for ruining my life, don’t you?”

Feeling certain he now held the upper hand in the negotiation, Victor grew arrogant. The count gave a faint, incredulous laugh and stepped in close. Victor was fairly tall, yet a heavy shadow fell across his face. Lowering his head just slightly, the count murmured in a quiet voice meant for Victor’s ears alone.

“Do I actually need your consent to take Maylily away?”

When the count straightened up and stepped back, Victor saw over his shoulder the attendants filling the narrow corridor. There were more than enough of them to overpower Victor and Pamela and take Maylily. Once they left this house, the power the count could wield would only grow stronger.

Victor, on the other hand, would have nowhere to report or complain if Maylily were taken from him. Who would boast openly about the crime of abducting and imprisoning his own daughter?

Only then did Victor realize that if the count wished, he could take Maylily without spending a single coin.

If that is the case, then why bother….

As Victor peered into the money bag the count’s secretary held out, he read a twisted possessiveness inside it.

So you intend to shackle her with a sense of debt.

To think he would spend such a fortune just to hold on to the heart of that worthless wench. No matter how inexhaustible Everscourt’s coffers were said to be, this was not normal. And the fact that his own daughter had been caught so helplessly by such a man struck Victor as an unexpected stroke of luck.

“It seems my last lifeline was not my daughter after all, but you, Count of Everscourt.”

With a snickering laugh, Victor shifted his gaze to the count. The count, who had been on his way back toward the storage room, halted and looked over at him with cold eyes.

“For a man who despised me so much he spent years plotting revenge, to fall for my daughter who resembles me and throw away a nearly finished revenge. How does it feel to lose to the man you called a worm, all because you were crazy over a woman?”

The count rested his fingers leisurely on his chin and studied Victor, as if choosing an answer to the question he had thrown out. Then the corners of his mouth slowly lifted.

“You have a nice laugh. You should laugh all you can while you are still able to.”

Even in defeat, the count turned away with a face that didn’t lose its elegant composure. Yet no matter how long he wore that expression, it wouldn’t change the fact that the winner of this game was Victor.

Drunk on the ecstasy of victory, Victor hurriedly called for Pamela to check the total amount of money in the bag. In the meantime, the count came out of the storage room with Maylily.

Pausing in front of the door, Maylily stared blankly at Victor, who sat on the floor, forgetting his dignity as he counted the money. Tears welled up in an instant, and she moved her lips faintly.

“….”

But in the end, no sound came out.

“Let’s go.”

Wrapped under the count’s arm, Maylily started walking. Her powerless back looked like that of a small animal taken as prey by a beast. Victor, who happened to lift his head in that moment, had his gaze catch on her.

“Maylily.”

At his dry call, Maylily stopped at once and turned around. The strapping men following behind split to either side of the corridor, opening a path between the two lines of sight.

Even though she had suffered so many wounds, her clear, water-colored eyes still held moisture and glittered like glass. Victor shifted his gaze to the bluish gray eyes gleaming coldly at her side, and a twisted smile tugged at his lips.

“The man next to you must have had a far better way to save you, so think carefully about why it had to be this way.”

It was a final piece of advice for a daughter he would never see again. Etched into it was Victor’s curse, wishing discord on the two people who had brought hardship down on him.

***

The buildings visible through the carriage window seemed to grow lower and lower, until a stretch of ashen factory district unfolded before them. It meant that the carriage that had set out from Buhin had been driving toward the outskirts, away from the city center.

Staring blankly at the scenery outside, Maylily suddenly realized that and turned to the Count of Everscourt sitting beside her. When her eyes met those of the man sitting at an angle facing her, she flinched, but spoke calmly.

“Where… are we going? Weren’t we going to Cryer?”

“Prowden.”

“Prow… den.”

“The Everscourt estate. Roden Station is too easy for reporters to spot us, so we’ll go to Floris and board the train there.”

Floris was a city bordering the eastern side of Roden, and it took about one or two hours by carriage to reach it.

“Why are we going there all of a sudden?”

“I have to stay in the south for work for a while, and I can’t leave you alone in Roden.”

“This is all too sudden. I haven’t prepared anything….”

“We packed everything that was in your house. Is there anything else you need?”

The unexpected announcement of the trip left her quite bewildered, but Maylily didn’t even dare think of defying the count. It had been only a few dozen minutes since she had promised to become his and left that narrow, dim storage room.

Of course, Maylily had her own summer plans. She was also supposed to take part in the soloist selection audition at the end of the month, so she thought she would have to watch the situation from Everscourt for a while, then return to Roden.

However, there was one problem she had to solve right away before that.

“Count.”

At her cautious call, the count tilted his head slightly in answer. The familiar kindness in that gesture made her throat feel a little dry, and Maylily swallowed.

“Before we go to the station, could we stop by the Roden Opera House for a moment? I promised Greta I’d practice with her today, and I’m worried she might be waiting for me.”

“Greta?”

“Yes, a colleague from the opera company.”

Maylily watched his eyes quietly as she waited for Hugh’s answer. Washed in the slanting summer sunlight, those beautiful eyes shone clear and bright.

Hugh wanted to ask: In this moment when all of you has become mine, why are you still wasting your concern on something so trivial?

However, instead of letting out emotions he himself found embarrassingly childish, Hugh had the carriage stop. When he opened the window and waited a moment, David came over. Hugh ordered one of his attendants to go to the opera house and deliver a message to Greta.

“Yes, I’ll take care of it right away.”

Once David, who had bowed his head politely, stepped back, Hugh ran a hand through his hair and turned to Maylily.

“Is this enough?”

“…Yes.”

As she slowly nodded and stared straight at Hugh, Maylily’s eyes looked somehow a bit confused.

“Do you need anything else?”

“N-no. Nothing.”

At Hugh’s question, Maylily quickly shook her head and turned back toward the window as if their business were finished. Watching her, Hugh’s gaze cooled.

They arrived at Floris Station in the late afternoon, when the sunlight had turned golden.

Left in the carriage after the Count of Everscourt stepped down first, Maylily straightened her appearance with the help of the maid who had accompanied them. She wiped the griminess from her hands and face, made dirty in the course of her escape attempt, with a wet cloth, then neatly brushed and tied back her tangled hair.

“We’ll take the night train and arrive in Lurollei tomorrow morning. From there, Prowden is about another hour away by carriage.”

On the way into the station and toward the train, David explained their travel schedule to Maylily, maintaining the same polite demeanor as always. But Maylily, unsure how to treat a man who must have taken part in the count’s deception, could only nod awkwardly.

“This is the cabin you’ll be staying in tonight. Please, go in.”

The cabin David led her into was spacious and luxurious, as if an entire room had been set down inside the carriage.

At the center of the scene, wondrous at first glance, a deep green velvet sofa was set lengthwise. Soft light streaming in through the window flowed over the back of the Count of Everscourt’s head, his straight neck, and his broad back as he sat there reading documents.

Only then did Maylily realize she would be spending the night in the same space as him. And that doing so had now become the natural, expected arrangement in the eyes of David and the others.

The count’s mistress.

When she repeated her position to herself in such clear language, the reality pressing against her skin felt suddenly overwhelming.

Her breath caught in her throat. Maylily placed a hand over her chest and let out a long, thin exhale. At that moment, the count lowered his papers and his gaze fell on her, standing dazed in the doorway.

His eyes swept in turn over her golden hair, her cheeks flushed from tension, the small hand resting on her chest, and the toes of her shoes showing beneath the stained hem of her skirt.

Placing his hand on the seat beside him, he gave a command, “Come sit.”